A patent application filed by Microsoft details plans for avatars that would reflect an actual user’s health, by using third-party reports and first-party active monitoring techniques.

Named Avatar Individualized by Physical Characteristics (PDF), such an application, according to Microsoft, could lead to innovations such offering rewarding or unlocking items and areas in videogames based on physiological data that reflects “a degree of health in the real person.”

This would allow people to gleam more about each other online as well, eliminating false signals sent by typically fake avatar representations, or as Microsoft eloquently puts it, “People seeking to meet and become acquainted with particular types of people are not thwarted by the artificiality of avatars.”

Taking it a step beyond physical appearance, the application could also be expanded to include “The physical characteristics can be further extended to psychological traits associated with the physical person, including intelligence, religious beliefs, political affiliations, and hobbies that affect the rendering of an avatar.”

This idea would certainly lead to dramatic changes in the videogame space, but it could easily expand to just about every corner of the Internet if it's able to go from idea to reality.

Yay Microsoft...DIE! No seriously. I come to the internet to avoid the "Mooo!" "Hey Wide Load!" "Dude what happened to all the skinny chicks!" BS I suffer in Real life because due to medical issues I'm in a losing battle with my weight...at least on line I can avoid that stuff and just be myself. Now Microsoft wants to take all vestages of my escape away? That's horrible ;_;

Uh huh... So they basicly want to use my whole fucking history for a totally useless and most likely self-damaging application. And this in a time where companies are already denying people jobs because of credit history and health. Are they really that fucking stupid? No thanks I'd rather have my brains pulled out through my uethra.

Looking 10+ years into the social networking future....I guess.... but were they not going to have a cam that did the avatar? oh wait they tossed that out since they could sell people mini avatar models....

"...could lead to innovations such offering rewarding or unlocking items and areas in videogames based on physiological data that reflects “a degree of health in the real person.” "

Hmmm.... I wonder what Erik's next lawsuit will be...

Yeah, I can see it now. Developers will now dictate whether your condition is satisfactory to even be allowed to play a game, whether you prove you can or not by actually playing.

Then there are the wonderful "negative" rewards and achievments. I can see hundreds of them. Not to mention the "Pity" awards. "OMG! You've got one arm and have made it to the next to the last stage in Midnight Club: Disabled Crew! Wow! 10,000 achievment points!" :/

Of course, there is a hidden potential there as well. Body suits haven't hit in the video game community. Not really. But SOME parts have, over time, caught on. Power Glove for one. Build in a heart rate monitor, blood pressure monitor, and a few other sensors, and you COULD, feasibly, have the game, especially one that you use a lot of physical interaction with, adapt to your condition. Set a game to not overwork you, the game allows you to pull back if the sensors say you're over doing it. Want to push yourself? Set the options to push your limits, whatever you set them for. Of course, at the same time, the game company risks liability if it allows you to set it beyond endurance and you pass out and smack your head on the corner of a table.

Actually? What I'm expecting is that games will now have virtual barricades set up over key areas, complete with signs that say something to the effect of "No fatties! >:("

What gets me though, is this little gem:

The physical characteristics can be further extended to psychological traits associated with the physical person, including intelligence, religious beliefs, political affiliations, and hobbies that affect the rendering of an avatar.

So basically, if I'm reading this right Microsoft is going to take a bunch of data, translate it into a bunch of stereotypes, transform those stereotypes into an avatar then finally hand it back to some gamer with a little note that reads “This is you.”

Are they trying to piss people off?

Granted, I admit they could do some nice stuff like you mentioned. But right now I don't see it doing much besides angering people when they see what this new avatar tech thinks of them.

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ZippyDSMlee: .....win8 hates any left over hidden install partitions from other version of windows....only waste 5 hours finding that out...its ahrder than you think keeping up with 4 or 5 HDDS......03/03/2015 - 4:44am

Matthew Wilson: I am going to pax east, any games you guys want me to check out?03/02/2015 - 11:23pm

ZippyDSMlee: No one remembers the days of Cinemagic and Cynergy eh? :P, meh even MGS is getting to film like....03/02/2015 - 8:44pm

MechaTama31: I was about to get all defensive about liking Metal Gear Solid, but then I saw that he was talking about "cinematic" as a euphemism for "crappy framerate".03/02/2015 - 8:29pm

prh99: Just replace cinematic with the appropriate synonym for poo and you'll have gist of any press release.03/02/2015 - 5:34pm

Monte: Though from a business side, i would agree with the article. While it would be smarter for developers to slow down, you can't expect EA, Activision or ubisoft to do something like that. Nintnedo's gotta get the third party back.02/28/2015 - 4:36pm

Monte: Though it does also help that nintendo's more colorful style is a lot less reliant on graphics than more realistic games. Wind Waker is over 10 years old and still looks good for its age.02/28/2015 - 4:33pm

Monte: With the Wii, nintnedo had the right idea. Hold back on shiny graphics and focus on the gameplay experience. Unfortunatly everyone else keeps pushing for newer graphics and it matters less and less each generation. I can barely notice the difference02/28/2015 - 4:29pm

Monte: ON third party developers; i kinda think they should slow down to nintendo's pace. They bemoan the rising costs of AAA gaming, but then constantly push for the best graphics which is makes up a lot of those costs. Be easier to afford if they held back02/28/2015 - 4:27pm

Matthew Wilson: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/02/28/the-world-is-nintendos-if-only-theyd-take-it/ I think this is a interesting op-ed, but yeah it kind of is stating the obvious.02/28/2015 - 2:52pm